


Shadow and Omega Get a Life

by DrCrusher



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-10 01:41:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20519876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrCrusher/pseuds/DrCrusher
Summary: The two deadly creations go Christmas shopping... neither of them enjoying one bit of it the whole way through.





	Shadow and Omega Get a Life

“Why did I think this was a good idea.”

“YOU DIDN’T.”

“Ah yes, that’s right.”

“BECAUSE IT WAS ROUGE’S IDEA.”

“Yes.”

“I ALSO DO NOT FIND JOY OR JUSTIFICATION IN THIS CONCEPT. YOUR LACK OF APPROVAL IS WELL FOUNDED.”

One was the self-proclaimed ultimate lifeform, created by the late Professor Gerald Robotnik. The other was a creation of the professor’s deranged grandson gone rogue. The two of them together had proven to be a formidable duo many times before, no matter the scale of the opponent.

And now here they were, in a shopping centre, buying stuff.

You see, it had occurred to a certain white bat that neither Shadow the Hedgehog nor E-123 Omega did much outside of beating up Eggman robots, aside from contemplating to himself and fantasizing _about_ beating up Eggman robots respectively. Helping to save the world is all well and good, but surely you still have a life outside of that, right? So at the behest of their close partner, Rouge, the hedgehog and droid were asked to get a few things over at the mall in Station Square.

Of course, Shadow knew right away that Rouge was only sending them to do this for the sake of making them more productive. (In fairness, Rouge had not made any real attempt to hide this fact.) But he complied with the request regardless, and - perhaps proving Rouge’s point all the more - Omega really didn’t have anything better to do, so he went along with Shadow.

Naturally some of the people inside the mall were nervous and intimidated by the presence of two super-powerful individuals in such an enclosed area, but neither Shadow or Omega were causing any harm, so they let them carry on.

“So let’s see,” Shadow mumbled, taking out the list that Rouge gave him whilst Omega was carrying every last bag with no effort. “What do we have so far…”

“PEARL NECKLACE.”

“Check.”

“EMERALD LAMPS.”

“Check.”

“RUBY JAM.”

“…Check.” Shadow briefly exchanged looks with Omega in regards to Rouge’s unique taste.

“SAPPHIRE SOAP.”

“Check.”

“CHAO FOOD.”

Oh yeah, Rouge had a Chao over in the Chao Gardens now, didn’t she? Shadow had occasionally pondered to himself if he should get a Chao of his own or not.

“Check.”

“AND THAT IS ALL OF WHAT WE ARE IN POSSESSION OF.”

“So that leaves only two more things… come on then, the sooner this is over with, the better.” With that, Shadow and Omega walked their way to Station Square’s finest bakery, complete with Omega’s footsteps making a loud clang with every step. The occasional nearby person stared in shock at them, asking questions to themselves, like what on earth were they doing here, or how were Shadow’s shoes not setting fire to anything.

But they made it at last, at the pleasant-sounding Creamy Delights, a relatively small and humble place. They had noticed there were various folks sitting and eating outside the shop by the chairs and tables. Shadow felt awkward about stepping inside, with or without the robot following him. But he soldiered on. As if to contrast the outside, there were fewer people inside, which was totally fine for the hedgehog. He went up to the counter, but the older-looking rabbit at the counter had her back turned.

“Uh, excuse me,” Shadow muttered. “I have a request to make. If you could make some…” He looked at the list again to see what exactly it was Rouge had wanted. He sighed to himself. “…Strawberry cookies, please.”

“Mr. Shadow? Is that you?” The rabbit turned around, revealing herself to be none other than Cream’s adoring mother, Vanilla. She smiled sweetly as she always did. “What a surprise to see you here.”

“…Yeah,” Shadow agreed, not having much else to say. “So you own this place?”

“Oh, it’s a part-time thing,” Vanilla lightly chuckled. “It’s something I do whenever my daughter is away with her friends. It can get pretty lonely in the house without her you know, so I decided to take up this job for those periods.” She glanced at Omega, who was currently waving and swaying his arms as though he were exercising. “And I see that your own friend is here as well! How are you doing today, Mr. Omega?”

“I AM COLD INSIDE FOR HAVING TO BE HERE, BUT I AM OTHERWISE IN ADEQUATE CONDITION.”

Vanilla raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“He means he’s doing fine,” Shadow quickly handwaved.

“Hmm hmm… Now then, what was it you wanted, my dear? Strawberry cookies?”

Shadow looked behind him to see if there was anyone else other than Omega in the room. There wasn’t, thankfully. “Yes,” he replied bluntly. “It’s for a friend,” he was quick to add.

“A friend, eh?” Vanilla’s amused tone indicated she didn’t fully believe Shadow’s story, yet she was willing to go with it. “Well then, I’ll have them ready in a bit. Just a few moments, please.” She went into the room from behind the counter.

“I’m never going to live this down once everyone hears about it,” Shadow grumbled.

“I ALREADY KNOW ABOUT IT. I AM HERE.”

“Not you. The rest. Sonic and his friends. As soon as they hear about it, they’ll never shut up about it.”

“SONIC ALREADY MAKES LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT OF YOU ON A ROUTINE BASIS. HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT?”

“Well… well you’re right, I guess it isn’t anything different. But the last thing I need is for him to have more ammo.”

“YES. LIKE THE TIME YOU VOLUNTEERED FOR ROUGE’S PHOTO SHOOT.”

“That was a reluctant choice, Omega.”

“TELL THAT TO SONIC.”

“It would fall on deaf ears.”

“I HEARD HE CAN’T LOOK AT THOSE VARIETY OF SHIRTS WITHOUT LAUGHING NOW.”

“How typical.”

“IT WAS REASONABLY AMUSING THOUGH.”

“Perhaps **you** should try it on if you find it so funny,”

By this point, Vanilla came back to the counter, with a small bag in her hand consisting of the cookies. “There you go, Mr. Shadow,” she beamed. “That will be ten rings, please.”

“Of course…” Shadow still felt somewhat uncomfortable with coming to terms with basic currency, but he wasn’t going to look like a fool in front of anyone in this mall, so he did his best to not let that show. He slowly put each ring on the counter, one by one. Much as Shadow tried to hide it, it was obvious to Vanilla that the hedgehog wasn’t used to doing these things. But she didn’t judge him for it, for she was vaguely aware thanks to her daughter’s experiences that Shadow had previously had a… _peculiar _life. She continued to smile.

“Thank you very much, and I hope you come back another day. It’s always a delight to see familiar faces,” the rabbit waved joyfully. “Bye bye now!”

Omega clenched his left fist. “I HOPE EGGMAN IS THE NEXT FAMILIAR FACE YOU SE-”

“We’re leaving now,” Shadow interrupted, glaring at the robot. “See you later, miss.” As they both left, the rabbit for her part simply chuckled once more.

“IT WAS MERELY A GOOD-NATURED JOKE, SHADOW,” Omega explained as they were walking through the mall. “AN EXPRESSION OF JOVIAL AND HUMOROUS INTENT.”

“Sure it was,” Shadow muttered.

“THE JOKE IS THAT NO ONE WOULD WANT TO SEE EGGMAN.”

“Yeah, sure, good one.”

“BECAUSE HE IS A WANTED CRIMINAL.”

“Indeed. Alright, so we have everything else now, so that leaves… Christmas decorations.” He scratched his head for a bit. “Even though this is only August. I’m not even sure if they do decorations at this point in time.”

“ROUGE SAID THEY DO EASTER EGGS IN JANUARY. WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO EMERGE WITH POSITIVE RESULTS.”

“Hmph.”

It didn’t take long for them to find a store that, by complete and total coincidence, specialised in nothing BUT Christmas decorations. Aptly named Season’s Givings, the store was suitably grand in size and scale, with all sorts of lights and fancy additions to witness. There were even some _trees_ in there, some with their own decorations, some without. Shadow calmly glanced up and down, and all around, observing the size of the place.

“Let’s split up here,” he remarked. “It’ll save time.”

“AFFIRMATIVE.”

So split up they did. Shadow covered the west side, Omega covered the east side. Not long after Shadow had disappeared, Omega had stumbled upon one of the workers in the store. The person was understandably on edge at the sight of a bulky robot entering their store, let alone one that had a familiar Eggman-style appearance. Nonetheless, he didn’t appear to be doing anything harmful or dangerous, so the man mustered up the courage to speak with him.

“You looking for anything, sir?” The man motioned towards a wide row of lights that turned on and off in order to show off their different types of glowing. Some of them glowed blue. Some of them glowed red. Some of them glowed green. But the one that caught Omega’s eye was the one that glowed nearly every colour of the rainbow, from reds and oranges all the way to purples and pinks. He automatically knew this would be the one that would tickle Rouge’s fancy the most. He pointed his large clawed finger at the lights in question.

“Ah yes, those ones are a beauty, a wise choise sir. So that’ll be…”

Before the man could even finish the sentence, Omega realised an unfortunate truth: that Shadow still had all of their rings on him, leaving himself with none at this exact moment. And he wasn’t going to leave this guy alone without explaining anything just to try and find the aloof hedgehog. So he did the only thing he felt he could do in such a stressful and awkward situation.

He pointed his cannon at the dude in the hopes that he would get the results he wanted.

The worker’s eyes widened in panic as he instantly put his hands up, yet he maintained his civil tone. ”…We happen to be doing a limited free sale today…?“

Omega lowered his arm, content with the response. He got the results he wanted.

Meanwhile, Shadow had already found a few bits and pieces. Nothing extraordinary, just a few lights here, a few baubles there, all the things you’d expect for satisfactory decorations. However, there was something that Shadow was looking for in particular, for unlike the other decorations - and indeed, everything else that was on Rouge’s list - the bat had described one desired decoration in more specific detail. It didn’t sound like anything special, it was just an angel for the top of the Christmas tree, so Shadow didn’t see why Rouge felt the need to make extra note of this one.

Until he actually found it.

Standing on one otherwise unremarkable shelf was an angel, designed with pure clear crystal. It wore an elegant dress, and it’s wings were long and lovely. It certainly looked the part for something that would be on the top of an equally beautiful tree. But what got Shadow’s attention was the angel’s face… and how familiar it looked. The long hair. The blue eyes. The warm smile. Even the dress reminded him of someone from a long time ago.

He slowly, carefully, picked up the angel from the shelf, without speaking a single word. As his hands clasped it gently, he examined it closer. He felt the texture of the face with extra caution and care. The face really did look so similar, it was almost uncanny. He looked into the eyes of the angel, and of course, it all came back to him. He still didn’t say anything, his red eyes simply continued to exchange silently with the angel’s blue ones. But in his head, it was a different story entirely.

He wondered to himself what would have happened if things had been different. What if the Black Arms had never made their deal? What if the professor had never went insane? What if… Maria was still around? How would his life have went had those things never happened? Would he have ended up that much different to how he is today? Would his outlook on life and the world be that much different to how it was today? He knew there was no point thinking about possibilities that could never be, but it didn’t stop him from doing so. He kept contemplating, all the while gazing into the angel’s eyes.

As he continued to do so, he only kept clutching the angel softly, partly subconsciously. Eventually, another worker showed up in the aisle. Shadow didn’t seem to notice.

"You want to buy that one, sir?”

The hedgehog blinked rapidly for a moment, as if he had just awoken from a deep sleep. Remembering where he was, he turned his head left to the worker, and then he turned it back to the angel. He took his time to respond.

“…Yes.” He finally confirmed. “This one will do.” He then remembered the additional pieces he had been carrying with him. “And these things as well, please.”

“Not a problem, sir. Right this way.” The man took away the angel and other decorations as he made his way to the counter, to which Shadow followed suit. As he walked over to the counter, he began to realise Rouge’s intention with this one. Rouge didn’t want this one for herself. She wanted this one for **him.** She had specifically noted this one decoration because she knew Shadow would find value in it. She knew that while he may have claimed to have moved on from his past, that didn’t mean there was no room for something that could count as a gentle reminder of his oldest and dearest friend.

Though Shadow would most likely never describe it as such out loud, he acknowledged it was sweet of Rouge to consider his feelings. The hedgehog made a mental note to himself to thank the bat the next time he saw her.

“That’ll be fifty five rings in total, sir,” the man requested. Like with Vanilla at the bakery, Shadow took his time with exchanging each ring to the man, and this time it came at the cost of creating a lengthy queue at the counter. The only reason why nobody openly complained was because they recognised who it was, and they weren’t stupid enough to try and cross the ultimate lifeform. Or ask what the ultimate lifeform was doing buying Christmas decorations. In August.

“Thank you sir, have a nice day,” the man cheered farewell.

“Same to you,” Shadow replied. He walked away from the counter and stood by the entrance of the store in order to wait for Omega. It was only a few seconds before Omega popped up… partly covered in blue and green tinsel, some of them having their own red and white baubles attached to them. He was also carrying the rainbow-coloured lights that had fascinated him so.

“SHADOW,” he started. “I HAVE DONE ADMIRABLY IN THE SEARCH FOR THINGS TO ACCOMMODATE THE FAR-OFF WINTER SEASON. HOW HAVE YOU FARED?”

“Yeah, I did fine,” Shadow motioned to the new bags he was carrying. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“AGREED.”

Before they could do that though, the previous worker that Omega had met showed up again, this time more red-faced and with a more unkempt hairstyle and dress sense.

“Come back again soon, fellow customers!” The man’s pitch was suspicious and all over the place, as if he had been scared by something prior to this moment. This caught Shadow’s attention. He looked at the man, who he noticed had himself been staring at nothing but Omega. The man’s eyes were practically screaming as they focused on the E-Series droid. Shadow looked at Omega, and then he looked at the man again.

He sighed once more as he covered his face with his palm in annoyance. He proceeded to take some more rings out of his pocket, having correctly guessed exactly what had happened. “I’m sorry about my friend, sir,” Shadow commented as he gave the man the rings. “He’s not the best with people, I’m afraid.”

He turned back to Omega, with a more sympathetic look this time around. “Neither of us are.”


End file.
